Infrared radiation from young stars can pass through the heavy dust clouds surrounding them allowing astronomers here on earth to study the earliest stages of star formation before a star begins to emit visible light suppose an infrared telescope is turned to detect infrared radiation with a frequency of 17.3THZ calculate the wavelength of th infrared radiation

Be sure your answer has the correct number of significant digits In pm

1 answer

To calculate the wavelength of the infrared radiation with a frequency of 17.3 THz, we can use the formula:

c = λν,

where c is the speed of light and ν is the frequency.

The speed of light, c, is 2.998 × 10^8 m/s.

First, let's convert the frequency from THz to Hz:

17.3 THz = 17.3 × 10^12 Hz.

Now, we can rearrange the formula to solve for the wavelength, λ:

λ = c / ν.

Substituting the values:

λ = (2.998 × 10^8 m/s) / (17.3 × 10^12 Hz).

Calculating this expression gives:

λ ≈ 1.73 × 10^-5 m.

Finally, to convert this value to picometers (pm), we multiply by 10^12:

λ ≈ 1.73 × 10^7 pm.

Therefore, the wavelength of the infrared radiation is approximately 1.73 × 10^7 pm.